PLEASE!

~shadow

Since when are creepy stalkers a turn-on?

-Saint

As both a Fanfiction author and someone who’d like to write her own book one day, I don’t see anything wrong with Fanfiction. I respect the wishes of the authors who do not want their stories ‘Fanfictionized’, but I’ve never seen a book that was in any way hurt by Fanfiction. I know a lot of people complain about what some authors do to characters, such as making them gay or killing them off, but my simple answer is, if you don’t like it, don’t read it! Or, even better, write your own the way you want it!

Fanfiction is, in a way, a much older art than just as long as Fanfiction.net has been around. Really, how many people have sat there and wondered how a book they’re reading would have gone if a character had taken a different path or something to that effect, then gone so far as to come up with the scenario in their head as to what would’ve happen. And a Fanfic is born!

As I said before, I’d like to become an author of my own book one day, and when I do, I expect people to write Fanfics based on my story. I’ll encourage it. And if they take my characters and totally twist them into something else, great! I’ve just encouraged creativity!

By the way, I, too, suspect a bit of Hobbit Hanky-Panky going on between Frodo and Sam. I mean, Sam just loved his ‘Mr. Frodo’ a bit more than the average best bud….He was close to stalkerish, really…

-Saint

And LMAO, if Jane didn’t ask about an Evanovich fanfic!! Guess where I’m from??? The answer is, sadly, Jane, while Donnab completed two of her stories, the third, ‘Secret Seven’ remains unfinished :(

I think that’s a hoot that you inquired!!

I know I’m coming into this discussion really late, but I can speak to the quality of the stories on the above site. Some are very, very good. Some are very, very bad. Some are in between. Many times I’ve had to stop reading a story because, as Nora said, “What have they done with Eve and Roarke!!!” But, some I’ve read and thought, “Wow, that person should be writing their own stories!”

That’s the nature of fan fic, I think.

There are no “Eve and Summerset” stories. There are most definitely no “slash” stories (gay stories involving Roarke or any other male character) nor will there ever be any other stories that deviate too far from the world that Nora created. I don’t allow it, simply because I have too much respect for Nora and the books she’s created. Even though this might sound weird to some of you because I encourage fanfic on my site, which, I know to some seems like a disrespect of the author.

But, I really do respect Nora deeply. I’m glad she’s (according to her posts here) cool with fan fic because it’s SO popular on my site, but honestly, If I was asked to take it down, I would. I wouldn’t like it, and I’d get a LOT of complaints, For me, it all comes down to the author’s wishes. I may not agree, but the author’s wishes should be respected.

I think fanfics are awesome. Its a way for writers to practice the mechanics of writing, to try out different methods and play around with presenting ideas without having to worry about character and world building. And when they start doing parallel universe fanfics and original character fanfics, they are beginning to try their hand at worldbuilding and character development while still having a base to fall back on to prevent their story from being complete crap.

Normally the crapiness of a fanfic wouldnt really matter, but if you are serious about writing and are playing around with fanfics, I know that the best way that I notice my errors is when people read my work and point them out to me, so I can try to fix them in later writing.

Personally, I think fanfiction boosts interest in the original. I have a few friends who are avid readers of Wolverine/Rogue fanfiction from X-men and will read no other kind. I myself probably wouldnt have been quite as into Harry Potter if I wasnt rooting for Draco to ravish Harry every other page. And as for the Black Dagger Brotherhood…all I’m gonna say is that the possibilities are endless there, and that I’m still praying that there will be a Butch/Vishous kiss in V’s book.

And if there isnt, as someone said before, theres plenty of people who have already jumped the gun and written the scene themselves.

I think that if there is fanfics out there about your work, the author should be flattered to some degree. It means that he or she wrote a good story, with a great world and great characters that people couldnt stop thinking of, and that was presented so well that it was easy for people to step into the world themselves to play.

And if an author doesnt want fanfics, honestly, there isnt that much they can do about it. JK Rowling I know has requested that all fanfics remain PG and somewhat true to the story, IIRC. Similarly, JR Ward does not allow fanfics on her message board for copyright reasons. But there is still a Harry Potter/Every male character in existence website (3 of them, actually), and it just means that I dont post my fanfic on the message board, I put it somewhere else.

If the fan knows what the Authors feeling are on fan-fic they should respect them, to the best of their knowledge. That being said, not all of them have come right out and stated how they feel about the subject.

Take Lois M. Bujold, she doesn’t try to prevent her fans from writing, but, she has stated that she does not want to see it. She’s stated why and her fans try to prevent any *newbies* from transgressing. They’ll even tell them where some fanfic sites are that they can share their efforts on without disturbing Lois.

Eric Flint on the other hand has a series that he invites his fans to write for. He maintains Artistic, Editorial, and Canonical control but the fans who write and develop characters and situations based on the 1632 books can, and do, sometimes find themselves getting published, and PAID, for their efforts. What started out as a Stand Alone novel has become, IIRC, seven books, and an online magazine with eleven editions so far, the first two of which has also been published in paper editions.

And it’s still going strong. Visit Baen’s Bar sometime and look into the 1632 Slush, 1632 Slush Comments, and Tech Manual. The amount of sheer research that goes on there is just incredible. Go to http://bar.baen.com/ (the New Bar) or http://bar.baen.com:8080/ (the Old Bar) Personnaly I prefer the Old Bar but that’s just a preference, and there are also other ways to connect as well, you find the one that works for you.

The one thing that I believe Baen Authors have in common on this subject is that fans are to be cultivated and that some of them are going to write about your characters. All you can really do is let them know your preferences on introducing you to it.

One of the subjects that Eric Flint keeps hitting on in editorials is that most authors have the same problem, and it’s not piracy. It’s invisibility. The more people you can reach, preferably in a good sense, the more books you’re going to sell. Name Recognition is a must for ANY artist, without it they have a much more limited audiance. So, to me, if fan-fic can help introduce more people to a particular artist, author, or medium then that’s a plus!

I don’t write a lot of prose but I do write a fair amount of poetry and songs. I don’t consider them fan-fic but they certainly are derivitive. I tend to write in the style of the fiction, or music that gave me pleasure when I read it or listened to it. Remember Achy, Breaky Heart? Well, I wrote a song called My Achin’, Breakin’ Heart about two months before that was released. Other than the titles they’re not really very much alike, except for both being C&W, but I certainly knew that I wasn’t going to get that one published or recorded any time soon!

Anyway, for me, the authors who rant against fan-fic are not doing themselves any favors. If they didn’t want their fans to identify with their characters then why in the world did they write about them? If they do want their fans to care about them then what is so surprising about the fans wanting to write the scenes they want to see that the authors haven’t provided for them? If they’re worried about a copywrite difficulty all they have to do is inform their fans, publicly, that they can not afford to read their efforts and then not do so, handle it in the manner that Eric Flint has, or somewhere inbetween. Enough said.

Oh! By the way, Jane, Bookeen should be shipping our sample units this week! Yippee! Once they arrive we will be sending out information on our E-Book Reader, including pictures, price, and specifications. For those who want to see what we’re talking about go to http://naebllc.com/phpBB/ where we will be posting them as soon as possible.

As I said this is just my humble oppion an feelings. But I can think there is a place for fans to write about the charcters that they love even if they may not own them. Its away to practice your writing skills and may give need cofidence to write, publish their own works. If I had fan fiction out there about charcters that I had created I would take it as a compliment. That the fans liked what I had writen so much that they wanted to write about the same charcters that I have created.

As for any spelling or grammer mistakes that may be in this post please for give me. I have dyslexia and its not a handy thing for a writer to have.

>I totally understand the urge to write fan fiction. I get why people read it. I do think that fan fiction is one of the sincerest forms of admiration for a work. I know there is some amazing fan fic out there.
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Yes there is, along with all the bad fan fic you can find some really good writing by fans who have a love for a series or an author and want to read stories that haven’t been written yet. Sometimes it’s about a character that is only on stage for a scene or two but really strikes a chord with that fan, or it’s a series that has been discontinued for some reason. The reasons vary so much that I won’t even try to enumerate them.
***

>For most authors, though, it’s purely a copyright issue here. We don’t want anyone messing with our ownership of that which we created.
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There are ways to handle this that don’t involve turning your fans against you. Eric Flint for example uses one method very effectively. He opened up the 1632 series to his fans and allows them to write under his supervision. While retaining control of what is cannon and what isn’t he can allow their imaginations to soar into areas he had not considered. The fans have responded by respecting his overall control and following the guidelines he set up.
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>Fan fiction does have a “diluting" effect on our ownership no matter how we might wish that it didn’t. And it can take characters places authors, as the creators of said characters, just didn’t want them to go.
***
This is why some authors don’t want to read fan fic and request that their fans don’t write it. I can understand the not wanting to read it, that prevents their being accused of *copying* something written by a fan. So if an author requests that they not be exposed to it I believe that should be respected. However I don’t see any realistic way to prevent fans from writing it.

Much fan fic is written, by people who never expect to see publication, simply because they have a story in their heads that is based on the story they’ve read and internalized. They think it’s good and want to share it, they don’t intend to violate copyright. Most of us who aren’t writers don’t realize what copyright is or when it’s been violated. Pesonally, as long as they’re not trying to sell it or claim that the author stole their idea I don’t have a problem with it, but I’m not an author of anything yet, other than some poetry and a few songs, so my opinion isn’t worth all that much to anyone but myself. Grin.

Still when you get right down to it *everything* is derivitive. Writers copy a style that appeals to them or on a subject that is similar to one that a favorite author writes about. Is that fan fic? Only in the broadest sense perhaps, but yes it is. Therefore I must conclude that some fan fic is a very good thing, it brings us new writers and *that* is always a good thing.

Except, of course, for that guy who emailed that I had ‘ruined’ Sherlock Holmes for him. I guess I just don’t know my own strength.

Other sites? Have at it, as long as no one attempts to publish for profit without express permission.